


Industries of the Blind

by sleepilychaotic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, hunk is the mom friend, i'll add tags as i go i promise, lance is a stripper, pidge explores their sexuality and gender identity, pidge is a stripper, pidge owns a strip club, shiro is depressed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-10 21:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11135325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepilychaotic/pseuds/sleepilychaotic
Summary: “Mattie and I,” Shiro starts, trying not to make eye contact with anyone in seats in front of the stage.“Well, Mattie and I fell in love. The second we were out of college I was on my knees proposing.” There are sympathetic looks all throughout the room. Don’t look at them, don’t look at them, don’t look at them. A mantra repeats in his head, reminding him not to lose his cool.“The first time I met Matt Holt, I was instantly captivated.”  Shiro tries especially hard to avoid looking at the little girl in the back of the room, sitting in a wheelchair.





	Industries of the Blind

**Author's Note:**

> im not really sure how i got the idea of stripper pidge in my head. i think im just really pissed off that pidge isn't her real name? it just fit her so well and i got used to referring to her by it so then i was like "well SHIT what do i call her in this fic?" and my brain was like "make her a stripper" and i was all "SURE WHY NOT"
> 
> inspired by the band Industries of the Blind, chapter title inspired by a song of theirs. i will use their music in every fic i write, im so sorry

 

* * *

 

_Flashback thing, idk my dudes_

 

 **_Organic chemistry will be the death of me,_ ** _Shiro thought at the start of his second year of college._

 

_Shiro had walked into class on the first day sure he was going to flunk out, but the bright eyed boy with messy hair that sat beside him seemed to be completely absorbed by whatever the professor was saying._

 

 **_What_ ** **_was_ ** **_the professor saying?_ ** _Shiro had tried to listen in, he really did, but there was just something about the boy next to him that was utterly distracting._

 

_Maybe it was the oversized orange sweater that seemed to swallow the boy. Maybe it was the circle glasses that looked too big for his delicate face and seemed to be a mix of hipster, Harry Potter, and John Lennon. Maybe it was the black leggings on toothpick legs sticking out from under that fucking sea of a jumper and holy hell since when do guys wear leggings and look hot? Maybe it was the way his nose crinkled up, and his tongue poked out of the left side of his mouth and he scribbled furiously trying to catch every word the professor said down on paper. The professor…_

_  
_ **_THE PROFESSOR!_ ** _Focusing his attention front, Shiro tried again to pay attention. The rest of class goes by much like the beginning. Shiro would try to focus, only to end up watching the boy next to him instead._

 

_By the end of class Shiro has no better understanding of chemistry than what he had as he walked in. With a sigh he pulls out his phone only to notice a missed call from his little brother._

 

_“Hey buddy, I’ve got 15 minutes and they are all yours. What’s up?” Shiro speaks into the phone after dialing his brother back._

 

_Keith, his adopted little bro, goes into this full rant about some “asshole” in his engineering class with “absolutely disgustingly adorable blue eyes” and “a smile that could seduce the whole of humanity, seriously fuck that guy” because “WHY THE HELL DOES HE HAVE TO FLIRT WITH EVERYONE?! He flirted with the teacher, Shiro. THE TEACHER! The teacher who is a 67 yeAR OLD MAN!”_

 

_Shiro laughs fondly as his brother goes on and on about this guy (“And he speaks Spanish, Shiro! Spanish! Who the hell speaks Spanish and makes it sound THAT DAMN ATTRACTIVE”)._

 

_“Okay Keith, invite me to the wedding.” He jokes, sending his brother into another rant (“WHY WOULD YOU JOKE ABOUT THAT?! Seriously, fuck this guy,”)._

 

_Shiro laughs again. Keith had always been a bit temperamental. He was angry, even as a child. He’s easy to mess with, but he always takes things too far._

 

_Picking up his pencil for the first time that day, Shiro starts to write._

 

**_Remember to meet the guy in Red’s class-_ **

 

_“What’s his name, Keith?” Shiro asked, tapping his pencil absently._

 

_The other end is quiet for a minute before Shiro hears a whispered name. Lance._

 

**_Remember to meet the guy in Red’s class, Lance._ **

 

_“Anyways, how’s O-Chem going?”_

 

_Shiro lets out a bitter laugh. “O-Chem will be the death of me, you’re in charge of my funeral. Make it awesome. Take care of mom.”_

 

_Keith laughed before hanging up._

 

 _Despite class being over, a lot of people were still in the room._ **_Probably staying late to talk to the professor,_ ** _Shiro thinks absently. He notices the boy that sat next to him is waiting patiently in line and he smiles subconsciously._

 

_As he starts to pack up his bag, he notices that the boy left a note on his binder._

 

**_maybe if you spent more time paying attention to the professor and less time staring at me you would understand the lesson_ **

**_xx matt_ **

**_PS- I know Lance and can set him up with your brother, call me_ **

* * *

 

 

 

“Mattie and I,” Shiro starts, trying not to make eye contact with anyone in seats in front of the stage.

 

“Well, Mattie and I fell in love. The second we were out of college I was on my knees proposing.” There are sympathetic looks all throughout the room. _Don’t look at them, don’t look at them, don’t look at them._ A mantra repeats in his head, reminding him not to lose his cool.

 

“The wedding was supposed to be next month…” He stops for a minute.

 

“The first time I met Matt Holt, I was instantly captivated.”  Shiro tries especially hard to avoid looking at the little girl in the back of the room, sitting in a wheelchair.

 

“I thought he was gorgeous. We met in Organic Chemistry, but I was more fascinated with the chemistry between us.” A small, pity laugh from the audience.

 

“When I walked into O-Chem, I wasn’t expecting to find love. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be Mattie,” a pause. “I remember walking into the classroom and thinking to myself ‘Organic chemistry will be the death of me.’ Dramatic, I know. But I got through chemistry with Matt helping me every step of the way. He got me through college.”

 

The girl in the wheelchair curls in on herself and Shiro has to remind himself not to look at her.

 

“I thought college was going to kill me. But it didn’t. This, right now, kills me. Having to keep on living without,” he stutters, “without Mattie here.”

 

Shiro takes a breath to control the tears threatening to spill over. “I never thought I would have to do this. I never thought I would be speaking at my fiance's funeral. You see, Mattie and I had a deal. I said I couldn’t live without him while I was drunk one night, and he promised I would never have to.”

 

_Don’t look at them._

 

“Because I loved him too much, I thought it would be too hard to live without him. But he,” _don’t look at them_ , “he was always the strong one. We had an agreement that I would die first. We had an agreement, Mattie…”

 

Shiro’s vision gets blurry and it takes him a minute to figure out it’s because he’s crying.

 

“I thought we would have the rest of our lives together. I thought,” he looks away.

 

“Mattie was a saint among men. Everyone who knew him could tell you that. He was more than just a big brain, he was a heart. He was my home. He was… everything.”

 

Shiro wants to stop talking, he really does. He knows that if he keeps talking, he’ll totally lose it. But he can’t. He wants to keep talking about Matt, HIS Matt. He wants everyone to know that it isn’t fair for Matt to be dead. It isn’t fair, it isn’t fair, it isn’t fair, it isn’t fair, it is **n’t f a i r , i t  i s n ‘ t  f a i r.**

 

Matt’s mother seems to see him falling apart and gracefully takes his hand and leads him to a seat. Shiro doesn’t remember the rest of the ceremony. He doesn’t remember what anyone else had to say about Mattie. He doesn’t remember the rest of the day. He doesn’t remember the rest of the week.

 

He remembers seeing a wheelchair leave the ceremony early.

 

He remembers a distraught mother calling him, begging him to find Katie.

 

 _Who’s Katie?_ He heard himself ask an empty room later that night.

 

He remembers seeing a news report about the family that had lost so much. Matt’s family. It seems his little sister is missing now.

 

_Oh, that’s Katie..._

 

He remembers locking himself away for weeks, months maybe.

 

He remembers Keith kicking down his door, saying he had sulked enough and the world needed him again.

 

But more than that, he remembers Matt.

 

He remembers Matt and Samuel having dinner with him, and sweet little Katie wrapping thin arms around his neck. He remembers taking them to a new restaurant called Kerberos. He remembers Katie getting ice cream and Matt getting pasta. He remembers getting into the car afterwards and pulling out of the parking lot. He remembers the stop sign. And the semi truck. He remembers the doctors telling him the other driver had been drinking. He remembers them taking his arm, something had happened to it in the accident one of the nurses had told him.

 

He remembers the crash. The lights. The sound of shattering glass and bending metal. He remembers finding Samuel in the backseat, crushed. He remembers Katie, little Katie, paler than ever and unmoving. _Why is there so much blood? There shouldn't be that much blood..._ He remembers searching frantically for Matt. Matt wasn’t in his seat. Matt had unbuckled his seat belt to do something. What was he trying to do? Shiro couldn’t remember.

 

But he remembers finding Matt. Finding his broken body on the highway, a trail of blood following him. He remembers thinking, _legs aren’t supposed to bend that way._ He remembers desperately trying to get Matt to open his eyes. But he doesn’t.

 

Matt never opened his eyes again.

 

_We had a deal, Mattie. You were supposed to let me go first. ~~Why did you break your promise? Why did you  d i e~~ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: I forgot that Katie was supposed to be in the car accident too whoops but it's fixed now


End file.
